108+ Mos Def Quotes (Soulful, Innovative And Diverse)

Mos Def is an American rapper, actor, and activist from Brooklyn, New York. He is well known for his socially conscious lyrics and his work in the hip hop genre. Mos Def has released four solo albums and has collaborated with other artists, including Talib Kweli, for their album Black Star.

Top 10 Mos Def Quotes

1. I dreamt that I could paint you with words, but there were no colors bright enough, black or white enough, blue or green enough...they didn't mean enough
2. Make today's solid ground out of yesterday's quicksand.
3. Good art provides people with a vocabulary about things they can't articulate.
4. They say that when a man faces his destiny, the destiny ends and he becomes the man that he really is.
5. That idea of peace and love toward humanity shouldn't be nationalistic or denominational. It should be a chief concern for all mankind.
6. You want to know how to rhyme, then learn how to add. It's mathematics.
7. We can be beautiful and feel beautiful about who we are everyday.
8. I don't want to waste anyone's time or money. I want to give people some truth and positive heart lift.
9. Don't look down, it's an impossible view; Fly like an eagle whatever you do.
10. Restlessness is my nemesis. It's hard to just chill and sit still.

Mos Def Image Quotes

Good art provides people with a vocabulary about things they can't articulate. — Mos Def

You want to know how to rhyme, then learn how to add. It's mathematics. — Mos Def

Mos Def Short Quotes

• I ain't no perfect man I'm tryna do the best that I can with what it is I have.
• Young bloods can't spell but they could rock you in PlayStation...
• All the things that are worth doing, take time.
• You have to experience life, make observations, and ask questions.
• Beef is not what Jay said to Nas; Beef is when the working folks can't find jobs.
• I'm blacked than midnight on Broadway and Myrtle
• The new moon rode high in the crown of the metropolis. Shinin', like "Who on top of this?
• Why do I need I.D. to get I.D.? If I had I.D. I wouldn't need I.D.
• I'm trying to get low. People's personalities can get in the way of their own work.
• My presence speaks volumes before I say a word.

Mos Def Famous Quotes And Sayings

Good art provides people with a vocabulary about things they can't articulate. — Mos Def

You want to know how to rhyme, then learn how to add. It's mathematics. — Mos Def

Breathe in...inhale vapors from bright stars that shine, Breathe out...weed smoke retrace the skyline. — Mos Def

Focused. I'm a hustler. And my hustle is trying to figure out the best ways to do what I like without having to do much else. — Mos Def

And from the moment that I saw you, I knew you was trouble, But I disregarded detour signs, And did not stop til you was mine. I guess God was like, 'Aight, fine.' Careful what you wish for, cause you just might get it in heaps. Try to give it back, He be like, 'Nah, that's yours to keep.' — Mos Def

Yo, it's 1 universal law but 2 sides to every story, 3 strikes and you be in for life, mandatory. 4 MC's murdered in the last 4 years, I ain't tryin to be the 5th one, the Millennium is here. Yo, it's 6 million ways to die, from the 7 deadly thrills, 8-year olds gettin' found with 9 mill's. It's 10 P.M., where your seeds at? What's the deal? — Mos Def

I'm not shy about heated debate or passionate discourse, but when people get crazy or rude, that's a buzz kill. There's got to be a better code of conduct, some basic etiquette. — Mos Def

It wouldn't be fair to cast aspersions on an entire cultural movement based on the actions of a few. To quote my grandfather, 'One bad apple don't spoil the whole bunch.' — Mos Def

It's possible and available to any artist to be himself or herself on their own terms, to be accepted and embraced by black people. You don't have to be a thug to get love from black people. — Mos Def

The test in life nowadays is just trying to keep yourself charged up with enough good feeling. It's like, "OK what am I going to do to feel really good today?" Not like, some chick or a drink. — Mos Def

Crack mothers, crack babies and AIDS patients Youngbloods can't spell, but they could rock you in PlayStation. — Mos Def

There are a lot of people who call themselves teachers or leaders, but they're really just propagandists. — Mos Def

Everything's got space between it, the planets, trees, your eyes. Your eyes get too close together, it's a whole different world. You can lose perspective. — Mos Def

What I take from writers I like is their economy - the ability to use language to very effective ends. The ability to have somebody read something and see it, or for somebody to paint an entire landscape of visual imagery with just sheets of words - that's magical. — Mos Def

I have no confidence issues with the impact or the quality of the music. No one in hip-hop, before this point and to this point, with all due respect, has done this. — Mos Def

So rather than really have, like a close relationship to anything that's coming out today, people are just, they've got it on as background music. It's kind of the same way the cabdrivers use music; it's very disposable. But, that doesn't mean there aren't a great number of artists who are doing things to change that. — Mos Def

Fame is like getting across the street. It's like, if there's nothing to be across the street for, it's a pointless destination. — Mos Def

I'm doing exactly what I was supposed to do. Yeah. I didn't exactly choose this. My own life, if it were up to me, would be very, very quiet. I'd be like a shopkeeper, a book collector, or something like that. I'm not like this. Myself as a performer and an artist is totally different from who I am. — Mos Def

I can't control what people think. I'm not trying to manipulate people's thoughts or sentiments. I write all the time. You have to experience life, make observations, and ask questions. It's machine-like how things are run now in hip-hop, and my ambitions are different. — Mos Def

African art is functional, it serves a purpose. It's not a dormant. It's not a means to collect the largest cheering section. It should be healing, a source a joy. Spreading positive vibrations. — Mos Def

I think hip-hop is actually one of the most challenging things that's happened in music in a long time. The people who are in charge of what people see or hear are afraid. What you hear on top 40 or what you see on BET or MTV is not a fair representation of what is really going on... — Mos Def

To me, playing an instrument and singing, all of these different things are just as natural to me as rhyming. — Mos Def

I don't hate nobody. I hate certain conditions that are inflicted upon the people - and they're helpless with it. — Mos Def

I was taught when there's somethin' you can change around keep quiet, you got nothin' to complain about. — Mos Def

What I take from writers I like is their economy - the ability to use language to very effective ends. — Mos Def

That's what I've been trying to strive for - to draw a clear picture, to open up a new dimension. — Mos Def

I just don't think it's very dignified to ask people to like you. You can just wind up being somebody's ottoman. — Mos Def

I guess something that you love to do, you gotta ease up off it and give it a little space, come back and be fresh to it. — Mos Def

Man, I smashed her like an Idaho Potato — Mos Def

Mos Def is a name that I built and cultivated over the years it's a name that the streets taught me a figure of speech that was given to me by the culture and by my environment and I feel I've done quite a bit with that name and it's time to expand and move on. — Mos Def

Twitter freaks me out. You have followers? It feels so obsessive and proprietary. — Mos Def

Every time you ask yourself where hip-hop's going, ask yourself where you're going; how are you doing? — Mos Def

I tell people all the time, I've always loved music and I love the language, which is a huge reason why I'm part of theater. But, I didn't wanna do all of this. I would've been satisfied to do it, like, on the weekends among friends, and to have a regular job. — Mos Def

Live now for the promise of the Infinite — Mos Def

I'm really quite bipolar, and the depressed times, when everything felt like night, sometimes you get to such a low point that you physically beat at it until it bleeds - as you would say - bleeds till sunshine. You get to a point where you say, 'I will not take it anymore! I'm gonna do something drastic if I stay this depressed. I've got to break out of there!' — Mos Def

This thing called rhymin' is no different than coal minin'; We both on assignment to unearth the diamond. — Mos Def

I want to be necessary and do good works. I ain't here to waste nobody's time, because I don't want you to waste mine. — Mos Def

If it's just fame for the sake of being famous, no one even cares about you - and you don't even care about yourself because you're like, "This is so ridiculous." — Mos Def

I know what it feels like to have the door slammed firmly in my face, so I'm cool with that. — Mos Def

It's difficult to really be an artist nowadays. People are just on another page. You have a society that needs you to say something, but they don't want to give you the environment to be able to be just a functioning, happy, normal person. It's like, the industry is at odds with you, the society is at odds with you. You start to live in this very confined box where it's like, It's "me" and "them." — Mos Def

The moment you start thinking it's hopeless, then it is. [But], if you think it's gonna get better, it really does. Life is a test. — Mos Def

I can't take it y'all I can feel the city breathin Chest heavin, against the flesh of the evening Sigh before we die like the last train leaving — Mos Def

You can positively affect and change a social circumstance with art, and it’s vital that a change happens now. — Mos Def

There's just some dysfunctionalism with artists. — Mos Def

When people say I don't see you enough, well just because you don't see me don't mean I don't exist or just 'cause you haven't heard me don't mean I haven't been making noise. But if I keep making noise, you'll pick up. — Mos Def

And remember don't high post when you're far from home, and high posting when you're all alone. — Mos Def

At its heart, music is all higher mathematics. — Mos Def

I'm growing as an individual, but your always growing. All of my albums are snapshots of where I am artistically. — Mos Def

You have to be an extremist to believe that you're gonna be the president of the United States and your name is Barack Hussein Obama! And he's using extreme methods, but his application is very smooth. Michelle Obama is extreme, her presence is extreme. And it's an extreme good. Extreme is not negative. — Mos Def

We blasted holes in the night until she bled sunshine — Mos Def

You're not gonna get through life without being worshipful or devoted to something. You're either devoted to your job, or to your desires. So the best way to spend your life is to try to be devoted to prayer, to Allah. — Mos Def

History has proven that it's impossible to crush the artist. There's always gonna be a need for somebody to write a poem or sing a song about something, about life - that makes it real. There's the word that goes beyond the word. — Mos Def

Hip-hop is rock & roll. What the hell is Wu-Tang but Motorhead? — Mos Def

To me, the job of the artist is to provide a useful and intelligent vocabulary for the world to be able to articulate feelings they experience everyday, and otherwise wouldn't have the means to express in a meaningful and useful way. — Mos Def

Fame is like getting across the street. It's like, if there's nothing to be across the street for, it's a pointless destination. It's like, "I gotta get across the street, man! I gotta be there! I gotta be there!" Then you get across the street and you're like, "Yeah I'm here!" And then, that's it. Fame doesn't make you particularly happy. — Mos Def

I've always loved music and I love the language, which is a huge reason why I'm part of theater. — Mos Def

I began to fear that Mos Def was being treated as a product, not a person, so I've been going by Yasiin since '99. At first it was just for friends and family, but now I'm declaring it openly. — Mos Def

I have mad brims. — Mos Def

I've always loved rhyming. I love language. — Mos Def

Speech is my hammer bang the world into shape now let it fall - HUNGH — Mos Def

You've got to validate every day. There are those who just put a stamp on it and say, "This is gonna be a good day and I'm not gonna let anything else make it a bad day." — Mos Def

Michael Jordan on the court is a completely different guy. If the play requires him to leap out all the way and grab the ball, that's what he'll do. He may be a completely shy, withdrawn sort of person [off the court]. — Mos Def

I don't mind being black. I'm black out loud. It's more than the people that they are, it's the condition that they represent. — Mos Def

I don't wanna get into that space where a lot of guys now, their solo album is like eight or 10 songs with other people, you don't get an idea of who this guy is. I just wasn't interested in that. — Mos Def

My Umi said shine your light on the world, shine your light for the world to see — Mos Def

I don't care about what brand you are, I'm concerned what type of man you are, what your principles and standards are. — Mos Def

I come from a family of very devout, praying people. That idea of peace and love toward humanity shouldn't be nationalistic or denominational. It should be a chief concern for all mankind. — Mos Def

Why did one straw break the camel's back? Here's the secret: The million other straws underneath it. — Mos Def

To me, it's like happiness is about happiness, but happiness is a fight. — Mos Def

I never had any ambitions of being a movie star or anything like that, but you know, this is nice. — Mos Def

Fear not of men because men must die. Mind over matter and soul before flesh. — Mos Def

I get reminded a lot of the time that my life is a little bit different, but I'm just trying to keep it as regular as possible because I like it that way. — Mos Def

Hip-Hop went from selling crack to smoking it — Mos Def

I feel like I was the only person who was capable of making this type of music in this type of way. I don't rap like nobody, I don't try to sound like nobody. — Mos Def

There was a time when hip-hop was its own musical principle, aside from sampling. Like the entire Wild Style break is instrumental. Kurtis Blow's earliest stuff was studio musicians playing. Whodini had a real clear sound, things like "five minutes of funk," stuff that you could write really beautiful, lush string and horn arrangements around, stuff that was just music. — Mos Def

Hip-hop is a beautiful culture. It's inspirational, because it's a culture of survivors. You can create beauty out of nothingness. — Mos Def

I'm retiring the Mos Def name after 2011. I'm actually doing it. — Mos Def

I'm a passionate person. I'm a lot of things, like most people are. Most people are dynamic. The focus is not on me though, I'm a screen. The aim is to always keep myself in the position where the screen is clear. — Mos Def

I didn't want to have to deal with having any moniker or separation between the self that I see and know myself as. — Mos Def

I feel like being into the beat of your own drum has become too prominent in the culture. — Mos Def

I'd bet a million dollars on DOOM against Lil' Wayne — Mos Def

People don't like the music that's out now, that's on their radio stations, and they want to hear something different, but they're just the audience. You know, people will keep the TV on even if a show is on that they hate - because, unfortunately, they've been programmed to do that. [But] they are really looking for something that's gonna speak to the world that they're living in. That's what people are looking for, but they're not finding it. — Mos Def

If 'Life in Marvelous Times' can't get on the radio, then I don't need to be on the radio. — Mos Def

It’s one thing to be the greatest; it’s another thing to be necessary. The best are the most necessary: those who take less than they give and love more than they hate. — Mos Def

With guys I revere, like Marcus Garvey or Malcolm X, their look is less about style than purpose and the expression of beauty. It wasn't just about being noticed, you know? — Mos Def

I'm just an artist and I'm doin' what I like to do. — Mos Def

I thought everybody got into rock 'n' roll because they didn't want to follow instructions. — Mos Def

I seen her on the ave, spotted her more than once. Ass so fat that you could see it from the front. — Mos Def

Peace before everything, God before anything, Love before anything, real before everything, Home before any place, shoot before anything, Style and state radiate, Love Power slay the hate. — Mos Def

I give a damn if any fan recalls my legacy, I'm trying to live life in the sight of GOD's memory. — Mos Def

Life Lessons by Mos Def

1. Mos Def's music has taught us the importance of staying true to yourself and your values, no matter what the cost.
2. He has shown us the power of using art as a platform to speak out against injustice and inequality.
3. Mos Def's work has also highlighted the importance of collaboration and community, as he has worked with many different artists to create music that speaks to the struggles of the African-American community.